


Today is a Gift

by glymr



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2015-02-08
Packaged: 2018-03-11 05:45:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3316373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glymr/pseuds/glymr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Tadashi is here.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Today is a Gift

**Author's Note:**

> Big Hero 6 wrecked me and left me heartbroken. I keep forgetting that real life doesn't tag for important things like "major character death". This is one attempt to make the story a little less painful for me.

_Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called 'the present'.  
-Bil Keane_

 

“Someone has to help!” Tadashi ran into the burning building, looking around wildly. The heat was intense. “Professor Calla-ACK!” He was jerked sideways as something grabbed his right arm and _yanked_.

At the same moment there was a loud noise and a searing pain in his other hand and along the side of his face.

Then, it was silent.

* * *

Tadashi was pretty sure he was screaming, curling around his hand, one eye squeezed shut uncontrollably against the pain. The fact that he couldn't hear himself was frightening. Had that loud noise deafened him?

Something was sprayed on the side of his face, something cool and foamy, and the pain started to recede. He blinked the tears out of his good eye and stared at his rescuer.

They were wearing a suit. It looked like a space suit. As Tadashi stared, the figure gestured to him to hold out his burned hand. It took him a second to make himself uncurl it, but when he did they carefully sprayed it with the same foam, and again the horrible pain faded to an ache.

The relief was wonderful. Tadashi whimpered and said “Thank you,” though he still couldn't hear himself speak.

He was – they both were _–_ floating, surrounded by purple clouds and odd shapes. Glancing back the way they had come, Tadashi saw a glowing circle of light, but even as he watched, it faded. The figure took him by his good arm and little flares burst out of its feet, propelling both of them along toward another circle of light in the distance.

Tadashi wasn't certain how long they flew. Time seemed to flow strangely, but that could have been merely his own perception. His face and hand ached, but the pain didn't worsen. He wondered how he was able to breathe. Clouds and shapes swirled past them, debris and other things that made no sense. In the far distance with his one blurring eye, Tadashi thought he saw the outline of Baymax, then it was gone. They dodged a cloud of something that looked like Hiro's microbots. He shook his head, and they were gone, too.

Finally the space-suited figure drew up in front of the second circle of light. Tadashi blinked at the mirrored helmet and, for a moment, got a glimpse of the person inside.

It was a woman. An _old_ woman, old enough to be someone's grandma, but pretty nonetheless. And she was looking at him with so much love in her eyes...

A sharp push, and Tadashi was tumbling into the light, stumbling alone onto the steps in front of the school's showcase hall. He fell to his hands and knees, sending a shock of pain up his injured arm. By the time he turned back to the woman, the circle of light was fading. By the time he was able to stand, it was gone.

So was the building.

* * *

There was a small memorial, with flowers and a photo...a photo of him. Tadashi blinked and looked around. He felt as though he'd been running for hours, weak and exhausted. His hand and face pulsed, sensation starting to return. He needed help. There were still lights on in the labs. Unsteadily, he made his way across the grounds, carefully not looking at the space where the school's Showroom had been.

The labs, at least, were the same. But instead of the bustle of work he'd expected, his friends were sitting in the middle of the floor in a circle. Aunt Cass was there, too, and...Hiro. Except, Hiro looked different, older...

As Tadashi watched, Hiro lifted a plastic cup of soda and said, “To Tadashi.” The others echoed his sentiment and tapped their cups against his.

Another voice came from the corner, a gentle, familiar voice.

“Tadashi is here.”

Hiro smiled. “Yes, we should watch the videos now-” he stopped and turned, following Baymax's gaze to where Tadashi was standing in the doorway. The empty cup fell from his fingers onto the stone floor with a clatter.

The pain was getting worse. Whatever the foam had done, it was wearing off. He was so tired...“Baymax,” whispered Tadashi as he felt himself crumpling forward, “Ow.”

* * *

“...second degree burns, with patches of third-degree...”

“...can't save the eye...”

“...build him a bionic one. That would be so cool!” That was Fred's voice, he'd know it anywhere. Tadashi's lips twitched into a small smile, and he opened his eyes. Eye.

Everyone was in the hospital room with him. Tadashi glanced at the window. He must have been out for some time; it had been dark when he'd gone into to lab, but now it was full daylight. His gaze skittered over his friends and family, finally coming to rest on Hiro.

He was taller by at least two inches, his face thinner, and his voice, when he spoke, was lower. “Tadashi,” he said, the word cracking in the middle. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Tadashi...” he said, then stopped as though he wasn't sure what to say.

“Jeez,” said Tadashi, still staring at Hiro. “How long was I out for?”

No else seemed to know what to say, either. Finally GoGo spoke up. “It's been about 18 hours since you came into the lab.” She stopped, swallowed hard, and went on, “It's been one year and 18 hours, give or take, since you died when the Showcase Hall burned down.”

Tadashi blinked. _Is it still blinking if you only have one eye?_ “I what? I didn't die,” he said.

GoGo swallowed again, and suddenly Tadashi realized that every single person in the room was on the verge of tears. Except Fred, who was looking at him suspiciously.

“Yeah,” said GoGo, her voice too raw. “We're all kind of wondering about that.”

“I...I went into the building,” he started. “It was really hot. And then-” He closed his eye. “There was – someone pulled my arm. A woman. She looked like she could be someone's grandma. I was in this purple place, and we were floating. She sprayed my face and hand with something that made the pain go away. Then she pushed me out and I was on the steps of the Showcase Hall.” He opened his eye. His friends were exchanging looks. “I-” Tadashi remembered and tried to sit up. “Professor Callaghan! He was in the building! Is he- Did he-”

The room went silent for so long that Tadashi feared the worst had happened. Then Aunt Cass stepped forward. “He's alive. Professor Callaghan is alive,” she said quietly, and Tadashi sagged back on the pillows with relief. He hadn't failed.

“How do we know you're the real Tadashi?” Fred's voice broke the silence with sudden belligerence, and the others turned to stare at him in surprise. “You could be a clone! You could be a bot! You could be anything!” He pointed at Tadashi. “Tell me something only Tadashi would know!”

“Uh-” said Tadashi, his brain going blank. “I-”

“Fred, be quiet,” said Honey Lemon crisply. “He's been through a lot. You can quiz Tadashi when he's not in a hospital, recovering from _second_ and _third_ degree burns.”

Fred closed his mouth.

“It's really...” Tadashi stopped as they turned back to him as one. “It's been a year? I lost a _year_?”

Hiro reached out and laid his hand on Tadashi's good arm. His hand was bigger than it should be, his fingers too long. He was shaking. “Yeah,” he said.

 _I was dead_ , thought Tadashi, trying to wrap his brain around the idea. _Everyone thought I was dead._ He looked around at all of them again and tried to smile. Tried to imagine what it must have been like for them. “I'm here,” he said. He shifted so he could wrap his good hand around Hiro's. “I'm alive. I'm real,” he said.

Hiro's hand tightened around his, still shaking. “Tadashi,” he said, his voice strangled. His shoulders hunched forward and shook. “ _Tadashi_.”

* * *

“I feel bad,” Tadashi told Honey Lemon days later. She tilted her head to one side, inviting him to continue. “I'm glad I'm alive!” he said quickly. “I don't even mind losing my eye that much.” The hand was harder, but he'd begun to adapt. It helped having Baymax around, and Tadashi was already working on upgrading his programming to better work with people with disabilities. There was nothing like personal experience to improve one's understanding. “It's just...” He sighed, frowning into his tea. Honey Lemon didn't speak, just tilted her head to the other side and smiled at him. “It's been a year. And it feels ungrateful to say it, but I wish she could have brought me back sooner, maybe to just after I left, or even just a month or two later.” He took a sip of the bittersweet brew. “I think that missing year is harder for me than anything else.” He looked up and met Honey Lemon's eyes. “Isn't that stupid?”

Honey Lemon shook her head. “Of course not,” she said immediately. “Feelings aren't stupid. They just are.”

This was why he'd picked Honey Lemon to talk to.

“Maybe you should talk to Abigail,” she added thoughtfully.

“Who?”

“Abigail Callaghan. Callaghan's daughter – we told you about her? She was in stasis in that other dimension for years. If anyone would understand what you're going through, she would.”

* * *

Everything was strange and wrong. Callaghan had...if Tadashi hadn't seen some of the footage, he wouldn't have believed it. And now the man was in _jail_. Baymax had been turned into a fighter, exactly the thing that Tadashi wouldn't have wanted, but in the end, he'd helped save Hiro, and Krei, and all of Tadashi's friends, so there wasn't much Tadashi could say about that, either. After all, he'd built Baymax to help people.

The robot had helped save someone else, too. Tadashi hesitated for a couple more seconds, then tapped on the door of the apartment. There was the padding of footsteps, and the door swung open. Tadashi stared down into the face of a woman he recognized, even after only a glimpse. “ _You-?_ ”

Except, she was young. Young and beautiful. He stopped, speechless.

Her eyes widened as she looked up into his face. “ _Tadashi?_ ”

* * *

“I started working on it after I...after I came back,” she said, setting a glass of soda on the table in front of him before settling into a chair across from him. “When I left,” she stopped and took a sip of her own soda. “When I left, everything was different. I was working for Krei, helping build and test the most amazing equipment, and my father was so proud. I went into to portal, and then...I woke up. For me it had only been a few moments. But years had passed. My father was a criminal, a killer...he'd been responsible for one death, actively tried to kill someone else, and destroyed so much...because of me.”

She looked across at Tadashi, meeting his eyes. “It was hard, going back into the world. I was a celebrity, but not for anything I'd done. I'd slept through it all. And those missing years...” She blinked and drew a hand over her face. “I was prepared to face death, when I went into the portal. I wasn't seeking it, but I was prepared to meet it. But I never imagined,” she shrugged and made a gesture encompassing everything, “this.”

Tadashi nodded. “I only lost a year,” he said quietly. “But it's like the world completely changed without me. I can't imagine...”

“Yeah,” she said when he trailed off. She seemed as relieved as he to have someone that understood. “So, I started working on a project. I read about everything my father did.” Her face twisted a little and he couldn't help it, he reached out to her, putting a hand on her arm for a moment before drawing it back. She gave him a small smile before looking back down at the table. “Only one person had died because of him, thanks to your brother and his friends, but it was still one person too many, as far as I was concerned. I decided that I was going to fix it.” Her voice took on a new determination. “If there was any way I could, I would fix it. I remembered most of the data for the portals, so I used those as a starting point.” She rose and crossed the room to where some papers were sitting in a messy pile. “I haven't gotten very far yet,” she said, setting the stack of papers in front of him. There were notes and sketches, and one drawing in colored pencil of a familiar purple space. “But I decided that, no matter how long it took me, I would do it. I would succeed.”

Tadashi looked up from the notes and met her eyes, studied her face, compared it to the memory of the glimpse he'd gotten. “It will take you a long time,” he said, “But you will succeed.”

* * *

She was the most beautiful person Tadashi had ever known. _I'm **glad** it took me a year to get back,_ he thought one day.

Looking across the worktable at him, she pushed her hair out of her eyes and inadvertently echoed his thoughts. “You know, I find I don't miss those lost years so much anymore,” she said. And then she leaned over and kissed him.

* * *

It took decades of research. They couldn't publish it, either – time travel was a little too sensitive a concept for them to share with the general public. After all, look what had happened when Abby's dad had gotten his hands on new technology. The havoc that an ill-intentioned, or even a well-intentioned person could wreak, could be incalculable.

Still, enough non-time-travel related technology came from their joint research that they were able to live comfortably, and, eventually, a couple patents even made them rich. Not as rich as someone like Krei, perhaps, but rich enough to invest in the technology they needed. Rich enough to do the careful, steady testing they needed to do.

* * *

“It's time,” she told him gently one day.

“What? No!” He stood up, more slowly than he would have once. His joints ached. “You're not old enough-”

“It's time,” she said again. “We've done the tests, we're as sure as we can be. We have the burn treatment foam that Honey Lemon developed. I'm a grandmother thrice over, Tadashi. It's the anniversary of the day you died.” She smiled at him. “It's time for me to go back and save you.”

“But...” He shook his head. “It can't be time. It...”

“It is time,” she said once again, a hint of steel entering her tone. His shoulders drooped. She reached up and touched his face, lightly tracing over the scars that had never completely faded. “I know why you don't want me to go,” she said softly. “As long as I haven't done it yet, you know that nothing will happen to me. You know that I can't get badly hurt or die.” He scowled, and she smiled. “I know you, my love.”

The scowl faded. He pulled her into his arms and pressed his face to her shoulder. “What if you don't come back? What will I do without you? What if you're trapped there again?”

She stroked his hair. “If I don't come back, you must go on without me. You have the children, and the grandchildren, and your brother, and all of our friends. You will be all right.”

“I won't,” he said, and she laughed and sighed.

“My love, you knew this day was coming. It must be done, or we can never be together. It must happen, because it _did_ happen.”

He drew a long breath and lifted his face. His eyes were only a little red. “I know,” he said. He straightened his back and nodded. “All right. Let's do it.”

* * *

“Something's wrong,” said Tadashi. “It's taking too long.”

“It's well within the parameters,” said Hiro. “We knew it would take time for her to navigate null-space.”

“What if she got stuck? What if she's trapped in there?” Tadashi paced the room.

“Your heart rate is abnormally high,” said Baymax. “I believe you are on the verge of a panic attack.” It wrapped its arms around Tadashi, and in spite of himself, he was calmed a little by the familiar warmth. “What if she doesn't come back?” he moaned.

“She knows what she's doing,” said GoGo. “Trust her.”

“I do. I do! It's just-”

The portal flared with purple light, and a figure in a space suit flew out, then collapsed onto the ground.

“Abby!” cried Tadashi, and in seconds he was out of Baymax's grasp and crouching next to her to loosen her helmet. She looked up at him and smiled.

“I'm all right,” she said. “Tired, but all right. That place really takes it out of you.”

Tadashi sagged with relief, tears coming to his eyes. “Darling,” he said.

“I'm here,” she said, and reached for his hand. “We did it.”


End file.
